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This one took me a while to get along to doing. I joined Iron Cupcake several months ago as it first started out, but didn’t have any time to participate! This month, I made myself do it. I mean, chocolate?!? Are you kidding me? That’s the best opportunity to make up a cupcake variation on chocolate for goodness sakes. I thought up so many different combinations it was hard to choose. I knew I wanted to do something with the lavender sugar I had sitting around just waiting to be used. Lavender would be incorporated into the chocolate cake part, and what to do with the frosting? I thought of using a type of dried fruit but nothing clearly popped out. With the help of discussing it with a few fabulous bakers I know, I settled on a orange and lemon zest vanilla frosting. It was superb. I topped each cupcake with dried lavender buds, shavings of orange chocolate, and orange and lemon zest. I was quite pleased with these. Lavender and chocolate are a GREAT combination (try making some lavender hot chocolate! and lavender chocolate ice cream is also quite divine…), but it was hard for me to distinctly taste the lavender because it was so mild. But I suppose that’s a good thing.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with paper or foil liners.

2. Whisk together the chocolate soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside to curdle. Meanwhile, mix your dry ingredients in a separate bowl while you let that curdle — sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Then go back to your soy milk/vinegar mixture and add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and chocolate extract. Mix and beat until foamy. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat until no large lumps remain.

3. Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

DIRECTIONS for the Orange Buttercream frosting portion:

While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting.

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup margarine, softened

2 cups confectioners’ sugar (may need more to achieve the right consistency)

1 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

1 tablespoon Cointreau liquor

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, cream the shortening and margarine until well combined. Add the confectioners’ sugar in roughly 1/2-cup additions. After each addition of sugar, add a splash of orange juice and other liquids and beat will with a handheld mixer on medium speed. Add vanilla and zests and beat for a few more minutes until smooth, creamy, and fluffy. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

I made these for my office Holiday party, and they were a huge success. Everyone commented on how light and fluffy they were. One mistake I made, though, was substituting margarine with Earth Balance. The oils in this buttery-like spread tend to separate at room temp. So next time I will really use the margarine or something more suited for frosting. Great recipe! Thanks for sharing!